News from Saint Michael's (the village, not me)

Caja and I are sitting in the cockpit on a warm Thursday morning, looking out over mostly empty slip in the harbour at the resort town of Saint Michael's. It reminds me a bit of Niagara-on-the-Lake - lots of little shops and boutiques and loads of B & B's. My main reason for coming here is to go and visit the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Any book I have come across on the Chesapeake strongly recommends that one stop here and pay a visit to that establishment. That is my plan for this afternoon. I have already checked the weather for tomorrow and made reservations at a marina in Herrington Harbour on the other side of the bay.
So far, I have been sticking to the east side of the bay, avoiding the large cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, the latter of which is this weekend hosting their huge boat show. I know that it would be nice to attend but without reservations a year ahead of time, I think it would be difficult to find somewhere to "park".
There seems to be some difference between the east and the west sides of the bay. The east side, where we have been, is not overly developed. The towns and villages are small; many of the residents earn their living fishing the bay and servicing the boaters. All along the trip so far, "auto" has done pretty much all of the steering; an eye needs to be kept for floats marking the location of crab pots. They seem to be everywhere. Our first day down the bay was with a light breeze blowing behind us. The genoa was launched and we cruised, still with the engine running right downwind to the marina at Worton Creek. The only uncomfortable time on the trip was the first few miles out the C & D canal where there was some barge traffic. In the canal, the wakes from the vessels disturb the water for some time as the wake bounces back into the canal from the shores. I thought that Caja might be able to last in the cockpit area but after the first barge went by, he had to go down and curl up below. The marina was about a mile up a creek in a very nicely protected part of the creek. There were high banks along the sides so any wind would be deflected. The people there were very helpful and informative about where to visit while heading south.
Our next stop was at Rock Hall, where we found a very nice marina with floating docks, great washrooms, nearby facilities and helpful staff. We ended up staying there for 2 days and there, in the Waterman's restaurant right on the pier, I had my first go at a plate of the local crabs. It is messy eating but they were very tasty. As I finished my feast on the deck, I was treated to a gorgeous sunset (photo attached). We were sorry to leave but we had to press on and yesterday, we did the run to Saint Michael's. The wind was right on the nose, so we again were on the motor and reached SM's after taking the shortcut through Kent Island Narrows. While the chart shows a depth of only 3 feet in the channel leading into the narrows, the staff at Rock Hall Marina advised that the channel had been dredged 2 years ago. The shallowest I recorded was 7.5 feet.
A brief note about the attached photos: The 1st is of a home on the shores of Chesapeake Bay close to the point where the C & D canal enters the bay. The second is of a tall ship that was anchored just outside the harbour at Rock Hall. The 3rd is my sunset shot and the 4th - the remains after my crab dinner; and the last is of Resolute tied up in slip #34 in front of the restaurant at Saint Michael's Harbour. I have many more photos. You'll have to see my slide show after I return.

Too da loo for now.

Mike